Sweet Caroline!

Tutu Cute!

2010-04-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Caroline's first dance recital and she was so excited. She told me a while ago that she wanted pink ballerina cupcakes at her recital (I don't know why she thought there was going to be food!). I decided to invite everyone back to the house after the recital for pink ballerina cupcakes and a few more pink things! Here is the dessert table:
It definitely met the requirements of pink and ballerina! There were pink cake pops, pink marshmallow pops, pink ballerina slipper cookies, pink ballerina cupcakes, and pink punch.
I also put some pictures of her dancing or at performances throughout the year on the wall behind the table. I think it turned out so cute! Thanks to everyone who came to see Caroline - you are all "tutu" sweet!

Taylor loves Elmo!

2010-02-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to get to plan, decorate, and bake for Taylor's 2nd Birthday party. She loves Elmo and I found so many cute ideas to use for the party. Caroline had a Sesame Street party when she turned 2, so I had some things from her party that I was able to incorporate into Taylor's party. I love how everything turned out and I hope that everyone enjoyed the party!
Here is the banner and Elmo lanterns. I have seen these banners all over the internet and finally decided to try and make one. It was so easy - just print, cut, cut, cut, cut, and tie ribbon. I think it adds a great personal touch. The Elmo lanterns were small red lanterns purchased from here with eyes, a nose, and a mouth cut out of fun foam and glued to them. They were so cute!
Here are the party hats, visors, and hair clippies (which were one of the party favors!). I saw some hats similar to these on etsy and thought I could make something kind of like them. I just took a piece of red cardstock and cut it into a hat shape and then glued on cardstock eyes, a nose, and a mouth. I then added a big red pompom on top and red maribou at the bottom. The visors were left over from Caroline's party. I got the idea for the hair clippies from here. They turned out so cute and the girls looked adorable in them!
These are picture holders that I made from red binder clips. I glued on wiggle eyes, a cardstock nose, and added some ribbon. I was thinking about using them for placecards or labels for the food during the party, but I never got around to that!

Now for some of the treats. There were a lot of them, but I found so many cute ideas and wanted to do all of them!
Elmo pretzel sticks. These are just pretzels rods dipped in white chocolate, sprinkled with red decorating sugar, with an Elmo cupcake decoration on top. I hope to use this idea for more parties.Elmo cake pops. Mine were not nearly as cute as these, but I loved them!

Elmo cookies. Thanks Kate for decorating all of the them. We used a grass tip in a pastry bag to make the icing look like fur and then added marshmallow and black M&Ms for eyes and an orange icing nose.Marshmallow pops. I originally saw the idea here and have used them for several parties. They are very easy to make and really add to the presentation.
Elmo fruit tray. This was really easy to put together and made a great addition to the table.

The birthday girl! I painted her Tshirt and made her tutu for the party! She looked adorable!The other "little" girls. I made the shirts for a party favor. They looked so cute in them!
It turned out to be such a cute party. It was red and Elmo and bright and fun and everyone had a good time!

Our First Week of Christmas Countdown Activities!!

2009-12-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

This year I decided to do a Christmas Countdown Calendar with activities for each day of the month of December. Some of the activities are things that are going on anyway and I just added them to the countdown. I had made a cute calendar last year and this year actually put things in it! Caroline was so excited to find out about the activities and she couldn't wait to get started. (It was a great day because her elf appeared at the house the same day!) She really "gets" Christmas this year and wants to know when we are going to make a birthday cake for baby Jesus and when we are going to buy him some presents! She has also already told Santa what she wants for Christmas and is pretty sure he is going to bring them for her. Here are some pictures from our first week:

December 1 - Cookies with Santa. We went to a great event where the kids wore pajamas, had their picture made with Santa, listened to Mrs. Claus read a book, and decorated and ate cookies!

December 2 - Decorate a Christmas tree for your room. I gave her the box of ornaments and a box of candy canes and let her get to work. She loves her Christmas tree!

December 3 - Write a letter to Santa. I helped her write a letter to Santa and she colored it. She is absolutely unchanging in the 3 things she has asked Santa for.

December 4 - Watch a Christmas parade. We went to Fairhope to their Christmas parade and Caroline got so much stuff!! She loved the parade even though it was about 20 degrees outside.

December 5 - Make a gumdrop wreath. I had seen this on someone's blog and thought it was so cute so Caroline and I picked up all of the things to make it and had a great time! It is hanging on the door of her bedroom.
December 6 - Drink hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows. She didn't like the hot chocolate, so just ate the marshmallows!!

We are enjoying December so much and have so many things planned. Caroline was in her first Christmas parade and had a great time "waving at all the people"! She was very disappointed when she would wave at someone and they wouldn't wave back to her. She said they weren't being very nice! I hope everyone is finding some time to enjoy this season! We certainly are!

School Days!

2009-08-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

So we finished the first week of school with very few tears (and they were all mine!). Caroline was so excited about school and playing with her friends that she bounded into the classroom with a huge smile. I can't believe it was just one year ago when she cried for the first 37 days of school when I left her. She has certainly grown up into a confident, outgoing 3 year old who loves people and new places. I remember not long ago it took her a while to warm up to new people and she would rather be with me than anyone else - and there are days that I want that baby girl back! I love what she is becoming but I miss what she used to be. So I cried everyday when I got back in the car after leaving her at school and teared up every afternoon when I picked her up with a great big smile on her face. Growing up is hard!This is her first day of school last year. She looks so little!
First day of school - August 11, 2009.

Back to School

2009-08-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

It is the time of year that I usually have mixed emotions - I can't believe summer is over and I can't wait for a new school year. I always start every school year with thousands of ideas and good intentions and can't wait to meet my new students and try some new craft activity. This year I only have one emotion and it is sadness. This year the only person in our house going back to school is Caroline. She will be going to a 3-year old preschool class a couple of days of week and I will substitute or volunteer (or take a nap!) while she is at school. Because she is an only child, Bob and I feel that this is the best plan for her. She gets to socialize with other children, learn a few things, and boss somebody else around for a few hours a day a couple of days of week. Although I know it is the best thing for her, I can't stand to be without her. I don't want her to be a big girl and go to school. I want her to stay with me and ask me 10,000 questions and ask me 2 dozen times to play a game or read a book. I want her to eat lunch with me and snuggle in my lap for a nap. This week I am going to take her to school every day and I am going to try to find some way to entertain myself while she is gone. The first thing I did was make back to school treats for her friends and teacher and my teacher friends. Look how cute they turned out.
These are the individual boxes for her friends. They are white chocolate covered pretzel sticks wrapped in crayon wrappers.These are the boxes I made for her teacher and my teacher friends. I tied a crayon tag that I found in the dollar spot at Michaels to them.

I would love for everyone to think I am so creative I just made this up, but really I am a great follower of directions. I found the directions on this blog and I downloaded her back to school printables kit for the crayon box. You should check out the rest of her blog and her etsy shop - she has some very cute things! Everyone loved them and Caroline was so excited to take something special for everyone. So while I sit at home and cry that my baby is at school, I am busy thinking of ideas for next week's sweet treat!

Caroline's Birthday Clubhouse

2009-06-28T23:41:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Caroline's 3rd birthday with a Minnie and Mickey Mouse party. After visiting Disney World in December, she has been very excited about the mouse so we knew early on she was going to have a Minnie Mouse party and we included Mickey because he was on all the decorations! She loved all the pink and polka dots and mouse ears! We played games, ate lots of food including cake, cupcakes, and cookies, opened presents, and enjoyed spending time with our friends.
All the kids - notice there is only 1 boy at the party! Poor Billy! We really need to make friends with some more people who have boys!

The cake table complete with cake, cupcakes, and cookies. The cake was made by the bakery and I made the cupcakes and cookies.

The cupcakes.
The gift bags sitting on my new dining room furniture. You can see the boy bags on the back row and there were only 4 boys invited with 16 girls.

Katy and Emma - Katy was the photographer for the party and took all of these pictures and about 400 more! Thanks Kate!

Easter Egg Hunt - Take 2!

2009-04-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the city Easter egg hunt at the park with Maggie, Nana, and Aunt Dana. Aren't the girls just precious in their outfits? Caroline is really becoming an egg hunting professional and shakes them when she finds them to see if they have anything in them. She also tends to only pick up the pink ones - because you know pink is her favorite color (and if you don't know, you only have to be around her for about an hour for her to tell you 50 times!). Again the weather was so nice (although Nana and Aunt Dana came home with a sunburn) and the girls had a great time hunting for eggs and playing in the park. Enjoy the pictures!

Hunting Eggs with 14 Two and Three Year Olds - Does that sound fun?

2009-04-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Today Caroline had her Easter party at school and today may be the first day she was actually excited about going to school! She set off in her Easter dress holding her bucket with treats for all of her friends and she couldn't have been happier! I really don't know how her teacher kept them calm all day because they didn't hunt eggs until after naptime - who can actually sleep with the anticipation of finding plastic eggs? So here are some pictures of the hunt and she left school hyped up on sugar with a basket full of sugar to take home!

Georgia on our Minds

2009-04-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to Atlanta to try to finally sort out Caroline's citizenship paperwork and see the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the High Museum. We also worked in a trip to the zoo (after sitting in traffic for 2 hours!), visiting with family, eating at the Varsity, and shopping until the vehicle was full!

Saturday we ventured down to the zoo and Caroline loved all the "aminals" and the beautiful sunshine. We got to the see the panda exhibit which was not open the last time we were there and it was worth the trip. As a funny side note, when Caroline saw the tigers she said "Look, Mommy, it's Mike the Tiger!" I guess she did learn something watching football all those Saturdays with her daddy. It was so nice outside and we really enjoyed the zoo.

Watching the flamingos intently.

Outside the gorilla feeding.

Outside the panda exhibit.

In the newly opened parakeet house.

At the petting zoo.

But back to the main reason for the trip - since we returned from China in May of 2007, we have been working on Caroline's citizenship. When she landed in America she automatically became a citizen and we should have received a Certificate of Citizenship within 90 days of returning from China. Nearly two years later and we have received nothing (oh, we did receive a notice that they did have a file for her and did we know where the file is?) After exchanging letters, emails, and phone calls for 18 months and getting no response, we decided to schedule an appointment and actually talk to someone face-to-face and see if we could get anywhere with a live person. We didn't get anywhere and we are now moving backwards in the efforts to receive a certificate. They really do not have any paperwork on Caroline and we will have to apply for a green card for her and then apply for citizenship. This doesn't mean she isn't a citizen, but we have not been able to readopt her in the state of Alabama or get her a social security card. Hopefully this will work out quickly and we can move on to something else!

After getting nowhere at immigration, we met our friends at the High Museum to see the Terracotta Warriors. It was really an interesting exhibit, but it was very crowded and Caroline was very grumpy. It was also very cold outside and the wind was blowing so hard I thought it was going to pick Caroline up and take her away! So we showed her a little piece of China and told her a little history and then moved on to lunch at the Varsity. Everyone should see the Terracotta Warriors and everyone should eat a hot dog at the Varsity. A good time with great friends!

The Boardwalk

2009-03-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

What to do on a cool, cloudy, sometimes rainy day? Nana and I decided to take the girls to the Boardwalk for a little shopping, a trolley ride, a carousel ride, and some ice cream. Sounds like a perfectly wonderful afternoon, doesn't it? First stop was the fountain where the girls threw all of the pennies (and nickels!) I had in my wallet into the fountain. Who exactly started this tradition of throwing money into fountains? Probably the inventor of the fountain! (I am going to look this up and get back to you on it.) I know that over the course of my lifetime I could have bought myself something really nice with all the change I have given small children to throw in a fountain!

So after throwing 42 cents of Caroline's college tuition into the fountain, we rode the trolley to the carousel. We had to walk around the entire carousel to find just the perfect animals to ride. Emma chose a pink horse and Caroline chose a fish. I am still amazed at how much children love a carousel. I just don't understand the excitement of moving up and down and going round and round (at a snail's pace!) but every kid I know loves it!

After the carousel ride, we had ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. I asked Caroline what flavor she wanted and she said "pink". I tried to explain to her that pink was not a flavor but she just didn't get it! She wanted pink no matter what flavor pink turned out to be.

We finished off the afternoon with a nap. The perfect cool, cloudy, sometimes rainy day!

Dress-Up

2009-03-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

Since Caroline started in her new class at school in January, she has been very interested in dress-up. They have some dress-up clothes at school and lots of times when I pick her up she is in a princess dress. She also has been very interested in wearing her tutu around the house (and to Wal-Mart and to dinner and to the post office . . .) and has asked me several times for a ballerina suit. I finally found one small enough to fit her and she would wear it every day if I would let her. Her outfit of choice for most days would be her ballerina suit, a tutu, and ballerina shoes. I let her wear it around the house as much as possible and I must admit she looks pretty cute in it! Emma came over to play today and Caroline and Emma wanted to play dress-up. I searched (which actually means Bob searched) the basement storage for some dress-up clothes and found some for Emma, but Caroline wanted her usual get-up. When they came back upstairs they announced the princesses were coming - and here they are!
Emma kept trying to get closer to Caroline for the pictures (her mom taught her how to take a picture!) but Caroline kept bending away! So cute!

Daddy's New Golfing Buddy

2009-03-24T21:23:00.001-07:00

Today Bob decided to take advantage of that golf membership, a beautiful spring day, and a girl who wanted to spend time with her daddy. Caroline was so excited to go golfing and had a great time. I bet he can't wait until she is old enough to carry his clubs! Here are some pictures he took on the golf course.
In the cart where she spent the first part of the afternoon.

Later she decided to get out of the cart and help Daddy.

Then she decided to get in on the action and putted a few.

And when all else fails, play defense!

"Dog-gone" happy to see you!

2009-03-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

One of the couples that we met when we traveled to China have become great friends. I really wish we lived closer so that we could see each other more often (they might not wish the same thing!). They have 4 children (one of which came from the same orphanage as Caroline) and we just love their family. We have been to visit them a couple of times and this weekend they came to visit us. We always tell people if you want to get away from it all that is exactly where we live so come visit. We don't really have a lot to offer as far as a vacation destination (OK, we don't have anything to offer!) but they decided to come anyway. We had such a fun weekend, laughing, talking, watching the kids play together, enjoying the sunshine, and eating. I also discovered why Caroline keeps getting that note home from school that says she was "screaming at her friends". Whenever one of the other kids walked near her, touched something by her, or looked her direction, she screamed at them - she really needs a sibling! For the most part, the kids got along great (sorry about Caroline!) and everyone had a great weekend. So if you are looking to get away from it all - call us!

Here is the reason for the title of the post. I saw these puppy cookies and have been waiting for an excuse to make them. Caroline was so excited to make puppy cookies and she had so much fun helping! We made a basket of cookies with the tag to welcome our guests. I know I have way too much time on my hands!

LUCKY!

2009-03-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

For St. Patrick's Day today, I made treats for Caroline's class and was so happy to do it. Somehow making shamrock shaped rice krispy treats, Magic Leprechaun Dust, and Shamrock halos brings me great joy! I know that this is not normal! When I started getting Caroline dressed for school this morning in her absolutely adorable St. Patrick's Day outfit, she quickly informed me that she didn't want to wear the green clothes because pink is her favorite color. I told her next week we would celebrate pink day and she could wear all the pink she wanted to, but today she was wearing green - she cried the whole time she was getting dressed! By the time we got to school she decided the green wasn't so bad after all because the skirt was twirly and she twirled the whole way down the hall. I love the pictures we took after school!

Today I am feeling especially lucky - I guess all the shamrocks, green, and leprechauns have helped! I know that I am lucky in so many ways. I know that lots of people are not as blessed as I am. I know that some people never win a raffle or door prize or contest and other people seem to always win. I know that life sometimes doesn't seem fair and it seems like other people are always getting all the breaks. I also know that I waited over 14 years for the greatest blessing in my life and I will never forget how LUCKY I really am. Sometimes the blessings just take a little longer for some people and I have learned that they are always worth the wait. So I really do know how lucky I am!

The Girl Loves a Birthday Party!

2009-03-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

Today we were invited to celebrate Molli's 2nd birthday and Caroline couldn't wait to get there. She carried her present around for a couple of days and I had to rewrap it before the party! She loves talking about parties, going to parties, planning parties, and anything that has to do with a party. She has already decided what kind of birthday party she wants to have - pink Minnie Mouse - and her birthday is still 3 months away. Here is a picture of Caroline and the birthday girl.

I love this cake and I am trying to figure out how to make one like it for Caroline's birthday.

I wish I had brought my video camera to record Caroline singing "Happy Birthday" to Molli. She was loud, off-key, and not singing with the rest of the group - a girl after her daddy's heart (and voice!). Happy Birthday, Molli and thanks for inviting us to your party!

It all started with a phone call (and a grainy faxed, scanned picture)!

2009-03-05T16:33:00.000-08:00

Two years ago today we got the phone call that changed our lives. We had waited 17 months since our log-in date to receive a referral and we couldn't believe it was finally here. (I can't imagine how the current families are waiting over 3 years!) I remember so well the phone call and how much I loved a baby in China that finally had a name, a place, a birthday, and a face - the most precious face I had ever seen! Happy Referral Day!

Here is the first picture we received of our sweet Caroline - it was taken in November 2006 when she was about 5 months old.

This picture was taken on March 5, 2008, one year later.

And these pictures were taken today, March 5, 2009.

I can't believe how much she has grown and changed. I sometimes wish for those baby days back and then I remember how much fun she is now. She keeps us laughing and wondering what she will do or say next. And to think that it all started with a phone call!

Oh, the things a Nana will do!

2009-03-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

See this:

Nana drove 6 1/2 hours to bring this cookie cutter to AL. Or so she said. What she really drove to AL for was this:

Playing the fishing game with her granddaughter. Don't let her tell you it was for anything else!

Oh, and I did get to make some really cute cat in the hat cookies for Dr. Suess day. Thanks, Nana!

Finally a Blogger (or at least I hope so!)

2009-03-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

I would like to think that I am really technically on top of things and in the know, but I have really wanted to have a blog for a long time and didn't even know how to start. I have been using Babyjellybeans as our primary website (and paying for it each month!) and it is not exactly blog friendly - I can't link to other people's blogs or have other blogs link to mine, so I thought I would go ahead and be a blogger. I guess I still need to read that "Blogger for Dummies" book, but at least this is a start. I am going to start working on moving some of my things from the other website onto this site and make this the primary site for "Sweet Caroline". It will probably take me a while to get everything set up just the way I want, so be patient and don't worry if things seem out of order or confusing for a while. While I am working on changing over, everything will still be on the babyjellybeans site. So welcome to our blog and glad to see you here.

I knew I could not have any entry without a picture of the sweet caroline, so here she is in all her Valentine's Day cuteness!